Over the years we've racked up thousands of cold, dark winter road miles to test hundreds of rear lights, from brilliant budget beamers to retina-ripping radiants that command the attention of even the most inattentive drivers. Here are some of the best rear bike lights available, with quick links to our top picks just below, along with more highly recommended options from road.cc further down the page.
Best rear bike light overall: Exposure Boost-R with ReAKT and Peloton
Best rear bike light under £20: Knog Plus Rear Light, Black
Best value rear bike light: Giant Recon TL 200 rear light
Best rear light with a camera: Cycliq Fly6 Pro Bundle
Best rear light with side visibilit: Moon Cerberus rear light
Best rear light with braking function: Lezyne Strip Pro Ai Alert 400+ Rear Light
Our top super-bright rear light recommendation: Cateye Viz 450 Rear Light
Best rear light with radar: Garmin Varia RTL515
A rear light is a legal requirement when cycling at night in the UK and many other places, and using one that's brighter than the legal minimum seems like a sensible way of helping drivers see you — or at least defanging 'but I didn't see them' excuses. The best rear bike lights have long run-times, can be seen from a good distance, and are sufficiently tough and waterproof to fend off day-to-day abuse.
Rear lights for cycling universally use one or more red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to generate their light. LEDs are very efficient, putting out lots of light for modest electrical power, which makes them cheap to run but effective at boosting visibility. Most rear bike lights are now rechargeable, taking power from a USB source like a standalone charger or your office computer. Battery-powered lights are still available, and have their adherents who appreciate being able to revive a dead light at any filling station or corner shop.
A flashing red light says 'bike' to most drivers; we recommend using a constant light as well so your position can be easily followed. It can be hard to track the position of a flasher on an otherwise unlit minor road. Rear bike lights are increasingly intended as day-time safety lights too, with super-bright flash or pulse modes designed to be impossible for drivers to ignore. They can be very annoying to other riders though; please use them only when necessary.
While we don't deploy the famous road.cc Beam Comparison Engine to test rear lights, the procedure for reviewing rear lights is much the same as front beams round these parts. Our reviewers, with centuries of riding experience between them, use products for at least a month before writing up their findings and coming up with final verdicts. For more information on how road.cc does product reviews and how we compile our buyer's guides, head over to this article.
If you want to see our top picks of back, front and combined lights all in one place, you can also check out our overall guide to the best bike lights. Just looking for a front beam? Head on over to our guide to the best front bike lights instead.
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